Grandmothers sway judge on 10-year sentence for man's role in teens' brutal murders

A man will spend 10 years in jail after two grandmothers faced him in court.

Author:
Derrick Rose

Published:
6:24 PM EDT September 14, 2017

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Two Louisville grandmothers on Thursday took the opportunity to address the man who helped kill their grandsons, eventually convincing a judge the man should spend 10 years in prison for his role over probation.

In June, Tieren Coleman accepted a plea deal admitting he helped facilitate the gruesome murders of Larry Ordway and Maurice Gordon in May 2016.

The teen brothers' bodies were found burning in the backyard of an abandoned home. Investigators determined they had been stabbed to death before their bodies were dumped.

Investigators believe they were killed to keep them quiet about a murder detectives said they helped Brice Rhodes commit.

Rhodes, Coleman, Jacorey Taylor and Anjuan Carter, a teenager, were all charged in the case. Carter took a plea deal and agreed to testify against Rhodes. In court Thursday, it was Coleman's turn to learn his own fate.

As part of his plea deal, Coleman would not have to testify and prosecutors left the decision between 10 years in prison and 15 years of probation up to Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mary Shaw.

"He needs to serve because as far as I'm concerned, he is as guilty as they are and I just want him to be put in jail," Debbie Wren said to Shaw.

"He should go to prison," Jackie Partee said, turning to Coleman, "If you were there and didn't stop anything; if you were that scared, you shouldn't have been there," she said sternly, adding, "Larry and them were just children, nothing but children."

Coleman's lawyers asked the judge to grant probation because Coleman has a one-year-old son and is in a long-term relationship and had no other adult criminal record.

"We are not minimizing the severity of what we pled guilty to in July, but on the other hand, we have stepped up and doing what we can to make that situation right," Ted Shouse told the judge.

The argument was not enough to convince the judge. Hearing the judge tell him he would receive the 10-year prison sentence, Coleman's head immediately sunk into his hands.

"I think with the serious nature of what happened here, I think you need to go to prison and see what it’s like and make sure that's not the life you want," Shaw told him.

Wren and Partee agree justice was served, but it still may not be enough for the grieving families.

"No one wins because he's going to prison, the rest of them are going to the [penitentiary] and our kids are dead," Partee said after the hearing.

"He's just as guilty and needed to be a man and serve his time," Wren added.

The cases against Rhodes and Taylor are still pending.

The grandmothers vow to attend all of their proceedings as well.

i-Team investigator Derrick Rose can be reached at 502-582-7232 and dnrose@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter: @WHAS11DRose